Women’s World Banking seeks to alleviate global poverty by expanding the economic assets, participation and power of the poor, especially women.

WWB is a global network of 54 microfinance providers and banks, working in 30 countries to bring financial services and information to low-income entrepreneurs. The network serves 11 million micro-entrepreneurs directly, and another 10 million indirectly through our bank partners and others. WWB’s advisors and technical experts work hand in hand with our network members to provide a range of ongoing, carefully designed technical and advisory services and to actively promote the exchange of best practices. During the past three decades, this global partnership has enabled many of our network institutions to evolve from donor-dependent, philanthropic initiatives to self-sustaining financial institutions offering credit, savings, insurance and other essential products and services to millions of microentrepreneurs, the majority of them women. In this partnership, network members are free to make their own decisions and reach their own conclusions; WWB’s philosophy is that self-determined, locally controlled organizations know their markets best and are the real agents of change.

The WWB network is supported by a global team that works closely with our member institutions to develop innovative business strategies, strengthen their organizations, and create products that best meet the needs of the poor in the communities they serve. Based in New York City, WWB’s global team consists of 40 microfinance professionals who deliver expertise in serving the women’s market through product design and distribution, access to capital markets, organizational effectiveness, and peer-to-peer learning.

WWB’s Global Network for Banking Innovation (GNBI) is a network of 24 major banks and regulated microfinance institutions formed in 2001 to spur innovation in banking strategies and the development of products and services for the growing microfinance sector. GNBI members are a diverse group, ranging from commercial giants like Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and ICICI, India's second-largest bank, to Financiera Interfisa, a finance company in Paraguay. The GNBI works to advocate policies that encourage bank entry into microfinance, and to share best practices and knowledge that will enable its members to better meet the financial needs of low-income clients.

WWB’s core network of world-class institutions — 70 percent of which rank in the top three MFIs in their countries — are growing their customer base at an average rate of 30 percent per year.